Shootings Jump In Gun-Ban Mecca Of San Francisco

Good news for the City by the Bay—by many measures, crime decreased in San Francisco in 2016. Violent crimes were down 8 percent over last year, serious crimes dropped 10 percent and property crimes were 11 percent lower. Perhaps the city leaders—who have enacted such restrictive gun control laws that the last gun store closed up shop in 2015—are on to something?

But wait: the San Francisco Chronicle has one more stat for us in addition to the above. Seems that despite all of the decreases, there was an increase in shootings. With a total of 229 people shot (40 fatally), so-called “gun violence” is up 27 percent—and has reached its highest level in six years.

When asked about these numbers, San Francisco Police Department Spokeswoman Giselle Talkoff stated, “We are always working to get more of them [guns] off the streets to keep the public safe.” Yet with the gun laws the city has in place, the guns are basically off the streets already. Apparently the criminals aren’t obeying the laws?

Gun Banners Again Hijack The LGBTQ Community For Their Own Ends

In March, we warned you about desperate attempts by flailing gun banners to co-opt other movements in order to stay relevant. Specifically, we called out Igor Volsky of Guns Down and Mark Glaze, of Everytown for Gun Safety, for telling the LGBTQ community that “The Issue Of Our Time (is) Gun Control.”

Now, Volsky and Glaze are hijacking controversy over the decision to replace the LA Pride Festival parade (on the anniversary of the Orlando Pulse massacre) with an anti-Trump march. In the Advocate, the pair crudely injected their issue with the headline, “On Gun Violence: Marches Aren’t the Problem.” (The article they were reacting to never mentioned guns.)

They wrote that the Pulse murderer was a “man whose toxic hatred for LGBTQ people and history of domestic abuse was weaponized by our lax gun laws.” They even managed to drag immigrants into the argument. No cause is safe from their claim-jumping.

We suspect the Moms Demand Action photo included was also unrelated to the LGBTQ cause—just like gun control is.

Texas House Passes Carry Permit Fee Decrease

The Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed legislation that would reduce carry permit fees for those in the Lone Star State. The measure passed 111-30.

NRA-backed Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Phil King and Republican state Sens. Robert Nichols and Joan Huffman, would bring the fee for a Texas carry license down from one of the highest in the nation to one of the lowest. If approved by the Senate and governor, the license fee would drop from $140 to $40, making permits more accessible to law-abiding Texans with lower incomes.

As NRA-ILA has noted, the measure was amended in the House to allow peace officers to obtain carry licenses at no cost, so the bill must be sent back to the Senate for agreement with this amendment.

Virginia Lawmaker Receives NRA Defender Of Freedom Award

Virginia Delegate Todd Gilbert, the incoming Republican majority leader, was presented with the Defender of Freedom Award at last weekend’s NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Atlanta, Ga.

Gilbert, who has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2005 and is a Lifetime Endowment member of the NRA, most recently promoted the right to self-defense by working tirelessly on an NRA-backed domestic violence package.

“Todd Gilbert is a staunch defender of our Second Amendment freedoms,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. “He has consistently stood up to the gun control lobby and aggressively fought to promote our fundamental right to self-protection.

“On behalf of the NRA’s 5 million members, I thank Delegate Gilbert for his unwavering commitment to freedom.”

The NRA Defender of Freedom Award is given to individuals who have distinguished themselves in preserving and protecting Second Amendment rights.

Man Shoots Invader Who Broke Into His East Dallas Apartment

A man was flipping TV channels in his Dallas apartment early Monday morning when he heard a sound just outside the front door. That sound was followed by a much louder noise—the sound of a man kicking in the door and bursting into the room. That’s when the apartment-dweller grabbed his gun and fired.

Dallas police responded to a reported shooting at the Primrose Park Villas apartments around 2 a.m., where they found the intruder lying in a breezeway with gunshot wounds to the chest and thigh. The suspect was transported to Baylor University Medical Center in serious condition, but is expected to survive.

Investigators discovered the injured intruder also lives at the complex with his mother. The resident of the apartment was unharmed, and he will not be charged in the shooting as police confirmed it was a case of self-defense.